Depot District Ontario, OR

08/31/2026

Depot District would love for you to host the following classes at Moore Park! Want your business to host any classes? We’d love to prepare the park before your class.

The depot district committee will ensure your park is clean and enjoyable before your class. Do you know anyone who would be all for this?! We can’t wait! ⬇️

Yoga in the park
Outdoor fitness classes
Tai Chi
kids’ movement classes
Story time
Outdoor classroom
Gardening class
Art classes
Basic woodworking demonstrations
Photography classes
STEM activities
Nature classes
OPEN TO OTHER IDEAS!

08/30/2026

East Side cafe and lounge Ontario Or. Art Sugai with one of his Pink Lady cars.

08/27/2026

08/26/2026

Hours for August 26 through the 28th, sorry we will not be there Saturday😏

08/24/2026

Ontario Citizens: What are the biggest problems we’re facing in our hometown? If you believe you may have a solution, feel free to drop your references in the comments as well!

08/24/2026

We obsess over home improvement shows.

We love watching a place get transformed. Something deep inside finds it immensely satisfying to see things improve.

But all the whirlpool bath tubs, shiplap walls, and open concept kitchens don’t mean much in a rundown town.

We can’t lift up a community one kitchen renovation at a time.

Everything worth caring about in our towns was allowed to fall apart. Then it was replaced with vinyl and asphalt and steel and glass that nobody can love. No one is capable of feeling pride about a strip mall. It was designed without care, quality, or concern. It cannot produce the emotions that were absent when it was built.

We get out what we put in.

But here’s the lesson worth sitting with. What if we thought as much about our collective home as we do about our personal one? The home we share with the rest of our town. The one that shapes our kids’ futures. The one that determines whether anyone can retain or attract talent. The one that decides if the graduating class stays or leaves.

If we spent half the energy on the home we share outside our four walls that we spend on the movie room inside them, we could lift everybody up at once.

The rising tide lifts all boats. The kitchen renovation lifts only yours.

08/22/2026

A building is a business. I repeat, a building is a business.

The community and economic development world gives an outsized amount of attention to business owners but leaves building owners jilted, pining in the shadows, just waiting for a little love.

Entrepreneurship makes Main Street go round, but building owners are entrepreneurs too. They should be getting a lot more attention. Because if you don't have any good building owners, you aren't going to have any good business owners.

The truth is, if a building is sitting empty on Main Street and no one is actively trying to sell or lease it, consider it unavailable. Whether it's part of a trust, owned by some family in Florida, or part of a portfolio being used as a tax write-off, it doesn't matter. That building is not a candidate for any of the businesses you are developing.

Your only hope is replacing the owner.

This is why identifying and fostering potential local developers is just as important as working with existing building owners. There are plenty of business entrepreneurs out there. There are almost no building entrepreneurs, because nobody is providing them the same resources.

Yet they are vital to the health of your downtown.